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Monthly Archives: November 2014

The importance of data today can never be overstated. More now than ever before with disruptive concepts like big data and all the great information it can yield, businesses are making a serious effort to adopt analytics services. And so is the surge of tools and applications with promises to make their job simple.

All businesses, ones producing the food we eat to those drafting insurance policies heavily depend on insights from analytics. Some run short term subcontracted project while others build an in-house teams of top class statisticians and BI experts to ensure a constant flow of insights.

And why not- these are scientifically derived tips into what to do and what not to do in business has borne sweet fruits too…

For McKessen , the model development necessitated the creation of a data analytics support structure of related business intelligence that did not exist before. The sheer magnitude of the number of transactions processed each day made the project challenging. McKesson Pharmaceutical Supply handles 60,000 active items in 30 distribution centers shipping two million pieces a day to 25,000 customer locations. The new data analytics has been the source for a multitude of business projects that would not have been possible before this model and is the basis for quantifying the financial impact of the changes made. Since the model was put in use in 2010, McKesson has reduced its working capital by over $1 billion from improvements in its supply chain while improving its service in critical product areas.

As a result there was an increase search conversions by 37%, email marketing conversion rate doubled and achieved 100% increase in sample orders.

CordMatch faced a challenge in using and implementing technology. They work to match cancer patients to cord-blood donors to retrieve stem cells for treatment. So they wanted to create a modern, Internet-based matching system that is fast and easy to use. Integrate graph search and big data capabilities to rapidly compute data.

Solution was having CordMatch, an Internet-based donor matching system. Neo4j, a high-performance, enterprise-level graph database. A unique algorithm for a single and double cord searches.

But that’s the story of less than half. Almost 55% of businesses implement big data analytics projects fails. They fail to arrive at the desired results. Many do not why they started or what they were looking for from the analysis.

An analytics project is essentially a data research project- and like any other it is driven by objectives, has (should have) a plan to put to effect and should be able to link expenditure to tangible business outcomes. But many miss a connection to objectives in the first place, let alone an execution plan to execute it. Following are some of the potential causes of failure as per our experience and research.

1. Failing to build the need for big data within the organization

2. Islands of analytics with “Excel culture”. Developing silo dashboards to answer a few questions rather than strategic, tactical and operational dashboards

3. Lack of vision and not having a strategy; not having a clear organizational communications plan

4. Lack of upfront planning; overlooking the development of governance and program oversight. Not establishing a formal training program

Which brings us to the conclusion, that alone analytics cannot lift the dilapidated state of affairs of a business or for that matter any business requirement however, strong the need be or however robust the analysis is. There has to be a full-fledged effort at an organization level built on a conviction that analytics can help and will help and it is absolutely necessary teams follow a well baked execution plan to make that happen

About Hedgehog Insights– We are data analytics service provider . We offer analysis of business data. Be it daily operations, cash flows, website data or ones from social media, we analyze all of them together, on one platform, draw, connections, correlations, causes and offer our clients set of easily actionable insights. Tools are really in abundance and we are not selling another expensive one, all that we are sellingis a promise that our analysts will offermodern and conventional analytics , work with you and help you see hidden opportunities from your business data.Schedule a free consultation

One of the favorite buzzwords for analysts and data scientist today is ‘actionable metric’. Recently barged into the business lexicon and promising enough to find a long standing position this word hardly ever misses any sales pitch by any person in the business of analytics and data research. Don’t try to connect to the meaning popular a decade back- here it’s nothing to do with law or criminal offense.

Actionable metrics are those that can be acted upon or used in business immediately, without making too many assumptions or help of a list of others – briefly, insightful information. The opposite of which is vanity metrics. Metrics that are remotely connected to use. Metrics, whose implications are subjected to the interpreter- meanings that differ from man to man.

Often we find web analytics that come with tons of metrics (and more being added even as speak), facing the fury of businesses- “too many dollar spent”, they call out “and too little an information to use”. Agreed. Figures like number of clicks, number of visits, no. of exits or no of views are big pieces of junk. But so is sales if you did not know cost and cost if you had so information about revenue.

But if we measured count of clicks, over months, weeks, time of a day for posts to that blog you maintain, that could give great information. It could tell a reader’s preferences at various times of the year, hours when your audience are ready to read and time when you run the highest chance of being in the limelight.

Thus it all comes down to the basis of analytics – contexts and comparisons. With right contexts in the backdrop and relevant comparison across every metric can be actionable or I’d prefer “intuitively informative”!

Since it is most popular among web analysts and Google Analytics as the uncrowned king- lets just analyze how much action driven information this tool has to offer.

Among the many types of analysis – dimension/metric combinations in Google Analytics – We could count on just 5 as downright intuitively informative. They are unambiguous in their implication and pretty readily actionable (if that’s what we best understand)

Bench-marking- in Google Analytics

Bench-marking Channels performance for Acquisition and Behavior- A new feature at Google Analytics and offers a comparative analysis of immediate industry in terms of channels used to acquire users and how they behave in each case.

Similar info is also available across geographic location. Important to note here is that, one gets to understand just which locations does that industry thrive in and sales or promotional channels most effective.

Cost Data- in Google Analytics

Cost to achieve goals-This involves uploading Cost data. Goals achieved is just as good as the cost incurred – be it micro or macro . So all those signups, downloads, video watching or purchase, how much did it cost advertising online or other , renovating the website or to stock up that inventory etc.

Content Drilldown- in Google Analytics

Content drilldown and behavior metrics-Average time spent on website gives a diluted idea of engagement , but if you break it down to each page and content level- that’s a solid piece of information giving exactly where visitors are engaged , if at all.

It talks about just how good or relevant or engaging is the content you have put out there.

Behavior- in Google Analytics

Behaviors and rate of goal conversion across channels-Your bounce rates, page depth, and pages visited can be broken down to channels and within channels, different social platforms, referring websites or keywords that direct organic search traffic. Is there a correlative movement between the behavior metrics and channels or sources that send. Is there any tips about where they found your link and how far is it relevant to that context?

Drill it down and you’ll see somewhere it relates to channel performance and effectiveness of all your resource , time money and energy spent in there.

SEO Queries- in Google Analytics

Queries in Search Engine Optimizations and Resultant movement over period- One of the best form of information available on the tool is what queries in search gives what result- is your website search engine optimized, where does your page rank for searches you love and

Conclusion- Metrics vary in the depth of intuitive and actionable quality , but a lot of it depends on the analysis it self and of course skills of a seasoned analyst. If you do not have an analyst or new to this as a business owner, remember it is important , the way data is viewed and the context it is put up against. Instead of viewing data singularly or as a mass of aggregates, slice it down and try al types of comparisons. Some will turn out meaningless but many will become insightful. Believe it or that’s how all analysts start! Good Luck.

About Hedgehog Insights– We are data analytics service provider . We offer analysis of business data. Be it daily operations, cash flows, website data or ones from social media, we analyze all of them together, on one platform, draw, connections, correlations, causes and offer our clients set of easily actionable insights. Tools are really in abundance and we are not selling another expensive one, all that we are sellingis a promise that our analysts will offermodern and conventional analytics , work with you and help you see hidden opportunities from your business data.Schedule a free consultation

Sentiments people associate with a business launch , new idea or information, cumulatively gives an idea whether it would be a hit or a miss.

Can you recall a time when your mom called, may be a routine call. You received, said hello and was just about to start speaking something else, when she interrupts and says words that feel like warm comforting hugs. Admit, she knows it before you say. She knows what’s wrong, how wrong or how happy and thrilled you are. You’ll say that’s your mom – who better knows you or is more concerned about your feelings, your sentiments or thoughts that occupy your mind. True that!

But they are not the only group of people who care how others feel- deeply mindful about their needs, wants and demands. It may not be as selfless or without a motivation or incentive like our mothers- but sure it could be just as strong, or even more in some groups. For example a business and its customers. Haven’t we been taught all our lives- customer is king. Hell ya. Customer satisfaction, their buying intentions, their opinions and perceptions do matter specially when it is a new service launch, expansion in a new geography or buying a massively expensive equipment to increase productivity. Where there is an investment there is also a risk of loosing it. Businesses cannot let it go without a bit of an analysis or some predictive insights. They need a prior understanding of just how big will the return be and how quickly will it come through, if at all.

With the emergence of social media in internet marketing, this information is available in abundance and capturing is simple. It’s like trying to predict what could be the polarity of reactions to a new business move – positive, negative or neutral – novel form of data analysis around social media. It is called Sentiment analysis of target market. Similar to market research that is done offline by questioning and surveying, sentiment analysis helps add a meaning to all the special media engagement activity your company conducts. Tying it back to meet a business requirement- perception or sentiment of customer spells out chances of acceptability of an idea and thereby chances of success

We at Hedgehog Insights, run sentiment analysis. If you have an idea and would like to validate it, gauge the level of excitement or anticipation among your audience, try us. We will be there to help you. We employ both applications and manual modeling methods to bring out the most accurate analysis. Contact us and let us know.

About Hedgehog Insights– We are data analytics service provider . We offer analysis of business data. Be it daily operations, cash flows, website data or ones from social media, we analyze all of them together, on one platform, draw, connections, correlations, causes and offer our clients set of easily actionable insights. Tools are really in abundance and we are not selling another expensive one, all that we are sellingis a promise that our analysts will offer modern and conventional analytics , work with you and help you see hidden opportunities from your business data.Schedule a free consultation

Standing at crossroads of decisions and determined to make no mistake an entrepreneur will always look into some business insights, tips, research online and consult experts before the next step- That’s precisely what is data analysis.

Analytics and business research is a part and parcel of every business. Many believe these are only for large businesses to benefit from. Truth is, large businesses would have never got any far had they not started analytics as small businesses.

Take the world by a spin- have your business rule!

Actionable insights from time to time can help you decide what content to put up on your website, what resources to hire, which customer to value and reward more than others and what products lying at the back of your store is actually high in demand.

But question is how do you get started especially as startups when most of your focus is to set up your business or get it off the ground? How do you know what data to analysis, and how it will help? Here’s a question:

What is the one (or two) biggest constraint to your growth? Put on your analyst’s cap and brainstorm on that thing which if resolved can help your business grow faster and easier. It can be your website, social media strategy, location of your retail, financial assistance or customer preference for your product(s)

After you have identified the constraints , analyze how you can resolve it. Determine one metric that you could track and see how far is your constraint resolved. This metrics defines your constraint in the sense that, its increase or decrease should show if your issues are getting fixed or not. This could be sales, cost incurred per customer, No.of customer per lead generated or event as simple as profit%.

For eg. if your constraint is website and its performance – have a goal set . Measure number of customers per visitor or per session of time spent or bounce rates. These are just examples . Link it up with an analytic tool like – Google Analytics and give it a few weeks to gather some data. Then try to read the basic reports. Understand user behavior, in-page analytics, and conversion rates. Check the user navigation pattern and try to find where most of the traffic drops off or which pages have highest time spent. Your metrics for web performance , will be very easy to track using this tool.

If customer satisfaction poses to be the biggest constraint to your sales and return sales, try to understand the why behind customer behavior. Check out metrics like , retention rate, or no of return per sale, frequency or recency of visits for every visitor that steps into your store or your ecommerce. A Market research describing the level of acceptability of your products or services could be a handy document to refer. These could tell why your target group behave the way they do and clues to what you need to do about it.

Inventory management could be a constraint too. That’s when you often end up delaying a delivery or run out of stock or end up spending most of your budget on piles .It’s time to analyse it. Understand the seasonality of products , whats in demand, when and how much to stock. Derive trends and patterns. If not data from your business, then look into others, A number of services, provide reports and syndicated analysis. Reach out to a low cost report . You could also reach us for one such study.

If a store a perfect location , is the biggest roadblock to a large number of footprints in your store, then too data will help you resolve. Look into demographics , compare it with your target group and check which location in your locality, will be the best fit. Analyse population and commercial renting rate.Draw a draft picture for your self on possible areas and know how to narrow down to one or two that works best.

Analysis of data can really be as varied as the number of constraints and problem you face in business.To say data guarantees success would be overrating, but sure it can increase the chance that you will win the game.. It can be a great support system to your daily decision making and put your business on the path on growth.

a. Be it daily operations, cash flows, website data or ones from social media, we analyze all of them together, on one platform, draw, connections, correlations, causes and offer our clients set of easily actionable insights. Tools are really in abundance and we are not selling another expensive one, all that we are sellingis a promise that our analysts will offer modern and conventional analytics , work with you and help you see hidden opportunities from your business data.Schedule a free consultation

Magazine publisher Time Inc. [fortune-stock symbol=”TIME”] has reported a 0.4% increase in third-quarter revenue, growth that was tied to some recent corporate transactions and offsetting weak print advertising revenue. Here are the most important things to know about company’s latest earnings report.

What you need to know: The results from Time Inc. — the publisher of People, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated and Fortune — were affected by several factors lumped together as “corporate transactions,” which include the acquisition of Cozi Inc., the sale of Mexico-based GEX, and other transactions. Excluding those items, revenue would have declined 6%, hurt by lower print and other advertising revenue, as well as falling circulation revenue.

The company, which was spun off earlier this year from former parent Time Warner [fortune-stock symbol=”TWX”], is now a stand-alone magazine producer at a challenging time for the publishing industry, which has struggled to adapt to…